This has been a really great week -- I learned some new things, and learning something new brings such excitement. It's like sparklers going off in my brain!
From a woman at a meeting I learned we have
shrews around here. I didn't even think a shrew was a real animal (but I did know a shrew was the description of an angry, hostile, bossy woman!) From Bro Mike I learned we also have
voles -- and no, I didn't know about them either.
But here's the best --
brush arbors!
The Beginning of the story...
Last year one of our Bay Breeze students, Trina James, died and her services were held at Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Bay City.
In front of the church is one of those large, standing historical markers describing the beginning
of Bethel. According to the inscription, Bethel was built in 1905 at the site of the
brush arbor.
Since reading that I have been asking people what the arbor was.
I have searched for quite a while for accurate information. I finally gathered enough info to
understand this important historical adventure!
The Middle of the story....an American epic!
A
brush arbor was not unique to Bay City. There is an entire religious and cultural phenomenon
surrounding brush arbors.
Settlers in New England clustered their small communities around their churches. But as pioneers moved toward the western frontier, their farms and small villages were scattered far apart.
It was not possible to get together for weekly church services. Villages were often 50 to 100 miles apart and so they were only able to get together between the "laying by and gathering" time for their
crops.
After the crops were planted and before harvest, these settlers arranged to meet together for extended services -- 2 to 3 weeks usually -- at a fairly central place, and near a creek or river.
The settlers would load their wagons with the same type of necessities we might consider packing for a camping trip.
The wagons (flat bed type) had no seats. The farmer would bring a chair or two from their cabin for
mother to sit on during the wagon ride, which might take several days.
The girls would probably ride with mother, sitting on home-made blankets and straw cushions.
Father and the boys would walk most of the time, maybe jumping on and off the wagon occasionally.
It was probably a great adventure -- the boys could run ahead or through the countryside as they
traveled, looking for those fascinating treasures little boys used to look for. (I don't know what young boys look for now, but apparently those items of fascination are no longer outdoors!)
When the wagons began to arrive at the meeting site, the men would take the oxen and mules to the creek for water and then hobble (tie) them up to graze in a grassy place.
The women would unpack their provisions, start a fire, and begin preparing food.
Some of the men and boys would begin fishing and hunting. Others would start the important task of building their brush arbor! It was to be a temporary structure to shelter the worshippers from wind, rain and sun during the outdoor church services.
A perfect site would be a centralized grove of young saplings, with as many trees in a straight line as possible (that way they wouldn't have to dig as many post holes.) They would use their axes (no chain saws) and cut the saplings to about 10 feel high. Usually that would leave some forked limbs which would be left in place to brace the cross timbers that would support the roof of branches. (These pioneers would have done well on Survivor!)
Often the arbor would be about 20 x 25 feet and sometimes for large crowds they would have to
build several joining each other.
Bay and magnolia trees worked best. The pulpit was usually a hickory post, standing about 4 feet high and set in the ground to mark the front. The women would sit in their own chairs which they had brought from their cabins on the ox cart.
Benches would be made by splitting logs, shaping the seats with a broad axe, and then smoothing the seating surface with sandstone rubbing rock.
Probably all that finishing work did not make the "pews" very comfortable for the hours-long services.
Between preaching services Sunday School classes would meet out under shade trees.
Under the arbor the only lighting would be a pump type coal oil lantern, for the preacher's benefit.
These brush arbor meeting places became very popular and sprang up all over the frontier, even down here to Bay City! There was a wide-spread revival during the later 1800's which is referred to as the
brush arbor revival movement. And there were a number of
brush arbor Bible conferences.
Circuit-riding preachers would make as many of these as they could. It didn't matter what denomination -- Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist -- just having someone to preach was considered an act of God's grace.
In addition to preaching, the visiting clergy would perform marriages and, of course, many baptisms and Lord's Supper celebrations.
These brush arbor meetings were important to our pioneer ancestors. Being able to hear God's Word
proclaimed and explained was worth the hard trip.
The Rest of the Story...
Finally discovering what the brush arbors were was an exciting event for me. I rushed over to an elderly friend (she is almost 96) and told her I had just learned about brush arbors. She looked at me
in amazement and said, "Yes, I know all about brush arbors. My husband's grandfather helped build them in East Texas. He used to take us around showing some of their locations and explained how his father and grandfather helped the early Texans erect brush arbors for their reival meetings."
She was very excited to share the memories of her early marriage. And I found myself wondering
why I didn't just ask her first if she knew anything about brush arbors -- it would have saved me a lot of time.
And Way Before That....
Were our ancestors thinking about our Old Testament book of Nehemiah?
When the Jews came back to Jerusalem from Babylon, they re-read the Holy Scriptures (Leviticus 23):
On the second day of the month, the heads of all the families, along with the priests and the Levites, gathered around Ezra to give attention to the words of the Law, which the LORD had commanded through Moses, that the Israelites were to live in booths during the feast of the seventh month.
And that they should proclaim this word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem:
"Go out into the hill country and bring back branches from olive and wild olive trees, and from myrtles, palms, and shade trees, to make booths"... (Nehemiah 8:13-15)
The making of these booths was to remind the Israelites of their years in the wilderness and God's faithfulness to them.
Maybe it would be a good idea for us to do the same --
